Wiener Apfelstrudel (Viennese Apple Strudel)
A soft egg and oil dough stretched over a floured tablecloth until it's paper thin, brushed with butter, layered with hazelnut breadcrumbs fried in butter, sliced apples, rum-soaked raisins, cinnamon and cloves, rolled up and baked at 350°F until golden.
Austria's national tourist office says the strudel traveled a long way before it settled in Vienna: from Arabia, by way of the Ottoman Empire, to the Austrian capital, a route it gives as a belief rather than a record. The neighbors have their own names for it, "štrudl" in Slovenia and "štrukli" in Croatia. Wikipedia says the oldest known strudel recipe is a handwritten one kept at the Wienbibliothek im Rathaus, Vienna's city library, and that the pastry spread through the Habsburg lands in the 18th century.
The test of a real Apfelstrudel is the dough. It is not rolled but stretched by hand, from the middle out, across a floured cloth on a big table, until bakers say you could read a newspaper through it. The Austrian Embassy's press service in Washington publishes a home recipe for that dough, and the tourist office's Viennese strudel by Renate Wagner gives the filling: apples, rum-soaked raisins and breadcrumbs fried in butter with grated hazelnuts. We join the two.
Why it works the kitchen science
Stretched, not rolled
Kneading and resting make the dough elastic enough to pull paper thin, and dozens of buttered layers wrapped around the apples bake into flaky, crackling sheets.
Fried crumbs under the apples
The buttery crumbs soak up the juice the apples give off, so the thin dough underneath stays crisp instead of turning soggy.
Step by step
- Step 1
Make the dough: put the flour, egg, salt and oil on a board or in a bowl and add the vinegar water a little at a time, kneading, until the dough is smooth, soft and no longer sticky, about 8 to 10 minutes. Shape it into a ball, cover it and let it rest in a warm place 30 minutes. Soak the raisins in the rum.
- Step 2
Make the crumbs: heat the 3 tbsp butter in a skillet until it foams, add the breadcrumbs and fry slowly over medium heat, stirring, until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in the hazelnuts for the last minute and take the pan off the heat.
- Step 3
Make the filling: peel, core and thinly slice the apples and toss them at once with the lemon juice. Add sugar to taste, the cinnamon and the cloves. Heat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and butter a large rimmed baking sheet or line it with parchment.
- Step 4
Spread a large tablecloth (about 3 by 4 feet) over a table and dust it with flour. Set the dough in the middle and, with floured hands under it, knuckles up, stretch it gently from the center outward, walking around the table, until it is paper thin and you can see the pattern of the cloth through it. Cut off the thick edge.
- Step 5
Brush the dough with some of the melted butter. Scatter the crumbs over the half nearest you, then the apples and the drained raisins.
- Step 6
Fold the short sides over the filling, then lift the cloth so the strudel rolls itself up firmly, away from you. Roll it onto the baking sheet with the seam underneath, bending it into a horseshoe if it's too long, and brush it all over with melted butter.
- Step 7
Bake 40 to 50 minutes, brushing once more with butter halfway, until the strudel is crisp and deep golden brown, juices bubble at the ends and a thin skewer slides easily into the apples. Cool a little, dust with powdered sugar and serve warm or cold.
Wiener Apfelstrudel (Viennese Apple Strudel)
Serves 8 · one long strudel · 1 hr 50 min total
Strudel dough
- 12 1/2 oz (354 g; about 2 3/4 cups plus 2 tbsp) all-purpose flour, plus more for the cloth
- 1 large egg
- A pinch of salt
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- About 3/4 cup lukewarm water mixed with 1 tbsp vinegar (add only as needed)
Nutty breadcrumbs
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1 cup (100 g) dry breadcrumbs
- 3 tbsp ground hazelnuts
Filling
- 4 tbsp raisins
- 2 tbsp rum
- About 3.3 lb (1.5 kg) tart apples
- Juice of 1 lemon (about 2 tbsp)
- 1/2 cup (100 g) sugar, more or less depending on the apples
- 1/2 to 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- A pinch of ground cloves
To finish
- 6 tbsp (85 g) butter, melted, plus butter for the pan
- Powdered sugar for dusting
Method
- Make the dough: put the flour, egg, salt and oil on a board or in a bowl and add the vinegar water a little at a time, kneading, until the dough is smooth, soft and no longer sticky, about 8 to 10 minutes. Shape it into a ball, cover it and let it rest in a warm place 30 minutes. Soak the raisins in the rum.
- Make the crumbs: heat the 3 tbsp butter in a skillet until it foams, add the breadcrumbs and fry slowly over medium heat, stirring, until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in the hazelnuts for the last minute and take the pan off the heat.
- Make the filling: peel, core and thinly slice the apples and toss them at once with the lemon juice. Add sugar to taste, the cinnamon and the cloves. Heat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and butter a large rimmed baking sheet or line it with parchment.
- Spread a large tablecloth (about 3 by 4 feet) over a table and dust it with flour. Set the dough in the middle and, with floured hands under it, knuckles up, stretch it gently from the center outward, walking around the table, until it is paper thin and you can see the pattern of the cloth through it. Cut off the thick edge.
- Brush the dough with some of the melted butter. Scatter the crumbs over the half nearest you, then the apples and the drained raisins.
- Fold the short sides over the filling, then lift the cloth so the strudel rolls itself up firmly, away from you. Roll it onto the baking sheet with the seam underneath, bending it into a horseshoe if it's too long, and brush it all over with melted butter.
- Bake 40 to 50 minutes, brushing once more with butter halfway, until the strudel is crisp and deep golden brown, juices bubble at the ends and a thin skewer slides easily into the apples. Cool a little, dust with powdered sugar and serve warm or cold.
Adapted from two official Austrian sources. The filling and baking follow Austria's national tourist office, "Viennese apple strudel" by Renate Wagner (serves 8, 70 minutes). We follow it as written: about 1.5 kg apples peeled, sliced and tossed at once with lemon juice, then sugar (100 g, adjusted to the apples), powdered cloves and a generous pinch of cinnamon; 4 tbsp raisins soaked in rum; 100 g breadcrumbs fried slowly in 3 tbsp foaming butter until golden, with 3 tbsp grated hazelnuts stirred in at the end; crumbs spread over half the dough, apples and raisins on top, the rest of the dough brushed generously with melted butter, the sides folded in and the strudel rolled and sealed; brushed with melted butter and baked 40 to 50 minutes at 180°C until golden brown; dusted with powdered sugar and served warm or cold. The dough follows the Austrian Press and Information Service in the United States (Embassy of Austria), "Apfelstrudel" by Hannes Richter (serves 7). We follow it as written: 12 1/2 oz flour, 1 egg, a pinch of salt, 1 tbsp oil and lukewarm water with 1 tbsp vinegar as needed, kneaded smooth, rested covered in a warm place 1/2 hour, then stretched paper thin on a floured cloth with the backs of the hands, the thick edge cut off. The water, rum, lemon juice, spice and melted butter amounts, the cloth size, the 350°F rounding and the skewer test are ours. History from Wikipedia, "Apple strudel". austria.info. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (3)
Tips
- The tourist office allows store-bought strudel dough or puff pastry; for puff pastry, put the filling in the center, fold the sides and ends over, press them firmly, brush with beaten egg and bake a little less.
- The Embassy's smaller strudel uses about 4 1/2 apples and bakes in a "medium oven" about 30 minutes.
- Adjust the sugar to the apples: tart apples need more, sweet ones less, as the tourist office says.
- A small tear in the dough is fine; the rolled layers cover it (our tip).
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Strudel came to Vienna from Arabia by way of the Ottoman Empire. Folklore: Austria's tourist office says it "is believed" to have traveled that way, and Wikipedia ties it to baklava through Hungarian cooking on a source that is now a dead link; neither gives a record.
- The oldest strudel recipe is from 1696. Disputed: Wikipedia's text dates the handwritten Vienna recipe to 1697, while its own reference note cites a 1696 book.
- You should be able to read a newspaper through the dough. Folklore: Wikipedia says bakers claim it, and one German source makes it a love letter instead.
- Apple strudel is Austria's national dish. Folklore: Wikipedia says so but tags the claim "citation needed".
- Puff pastry is allowed. Documented: Austria's own tourist office gives a puff pastry option.
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